Riya had been so busy with all the presentations and meetings that she even forgot to look at the time. It was almost past 6 and everyone were breaking for snacks in the open arena of the resort. There was coffee, tea, bread, biscuits and various other items lined for buffet. A cup of hot chocolate was what Riya preferred and she carefully set it on her table while joining her father and Sharan.
She couldn't shake Dhruv off her mind since morning. He gave her a ride to the resort, which was already weird since he was selfish and never offered anything without getting something in return, but he had not asked anything in return, which was weirder. Plus, he had messaged her saying he would pick her up too. Something was definitely amiss.
Although they were goofing around the house recently, that didn't mean he liked her. She wondered if he had moved on from Tanya. A habit like that wasn't something which could be easily shaken off, right? She sipped her hot chocolate absentmindedly only to burn her own tongue the next instant.
Suddenly, Riya's dad cleared his throat bringing her back to reality.
"What did you think of today's event, dad?", she asked naturally as if the big scene about her mother never took place.
"It was good, Riya. Needless to say, you have managed it well", he appreciated her.
Even during the planning of this event, she never came to him for any consultations or approvals which pained his heart. This was the first time she was talking to him after the incident. But he also wanted to give this space for his daughter to cope.
Sharan was already done with his snacks and left them to join his team. Although they were family, as Sharan was head of Sales, he had to be with his team throughout the annual meet.
Once he was out of ear shot, Riya's father slowly started asking her, "Um…. Are we .... fine?"
It had been eating his brain all along, he couldn't just hold it in forever.
"About what happened last time…. In house….", he trailed further.
"Yeah… I think we're fine…..", she proclaimed after taking a moment. She wasn't very comfortable talking about it. In fact, she never wanted to talk or think about it, ever!
He pursed his lips scared of going down that road. Riya was always curt and straight to the point and she spoke more than a few words only when she was yelling at someone. That normally made her attitude difficult to deal with.
An awkward silence settled over them as they struggled to make conversation.
She felt spent and done for the day and was waiting for Dhruv, as he sent a message saying he'd reach in sometime. Riya wondered if she should just leave and wait outside as this discomfort between her dad and herself was unnerving.
While she was pondering over what to ask her dad next, Riya could see her assistant Kamu's panic ridden face urgently coming into view parting the crowd of gentlemen standing nearby.
"What?", she asked with equal anxiety. It was very rare to see this expression on Kamu, but whenever it did, it never ended in anything good. Something had gone terribly wrong, but she couldn't take a guess.
"Mam! I'm... There's something which you should see….", he frowned and displayed his phone holding it like a precious little baby in his hand.
It was a news article. 'Okay… News always means something very very bad', Riya made a mental note before taking his phone into her palm and scrolling through the article.
'Riya's Choice CEO diagnosed with Haphephobia and mental trauma. 'Is she fit to run the business?', shareholders worry' – This was what the headline mentioned.
Riya's face turned completely pale on reading that, and her eyes widened with disbelief. For a minute, she couldn't talk, couldn't think. Her mind had only one question, 'What?'
She responded very slowly, "What? How did it.... leak? What the hell, Kamu", she looked at him horrified only to receive the same reaction in return.
"What happened?", her father chimed in being left out of the whole life altering conversation and he peeped into the phone which was being held in his daughter's unsteady hands.
As soon as he read the headlines, he was mortified as well.
"Oh….. This is bad! This is bad! This is so very very bad!", Riya kept muttering the same words as her whole world was crumbling down.